WW1 cannon goes missing

AFTER standing for more than 90 years in the Lismore district as a vivid reminder of the horrors of warfare a historic World War One cannon has vanished.

The German field gun and carriage, which had been fastened to a concrete slab near the old Mount Bute primary school, was stolen by brazen thieves who would have needed considerable muscle-power or lifting machinery to remove the artillery piece estimated to weigh 150 kilograms.

“This theft is a poor reflection on society,” said local resident Robert McDonald whose uncle fought in WWI and father in WWII.

“It would be a fairly rare gun and had been originally installed when the former Mount Bute station was split into soldier settlement blocks.

“It had been refurbished a few years ago with a grant from Corangamite Shire Council and measured about five feet by three feet.